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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22402876">Eyeliner and I Love You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_kats_pyjamas/pseuds/the_kats_pyjamas'>the_kats_pyjamas</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sex Education (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:14:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22402876</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_kats_pyjamas/pseuds/the_kats_pyjamas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a lil ball of fluff about the first time Adam and Eric say I love you.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eric Effiong/Adam Groff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>190</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Eyeliner and I Love You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eric ran the copper kohl along the line of his lower lid, allowing his face to do that weird down turned open mouthed thing that only happened during eye makeup application. Adam said he loved watching him put makeup on, so he was trying not to feel self-conscious about the odd things his face did while doing it. This was part of him, and he wanted Adam to know it. </p><p>He glanced at Adam, cross-legged on his bed, in the reflection. He was watching intently, and he smiled when he caught Eric's eye. </p><p>"Looks good," he said softly, and Eric smiled back. He returned his focus to his own reflection, the ghost of a smile still haunting his lips and turned his face from side to side, examining the colour at different angles. Satisfied, he was reaching for a cotton bud to blend out the lines when his door burst open and his youngest sister bounced into the room.</p><p>"Mary!" Eric exclaimed, indignant. "What have I told you about coming in here without knocking?!"</p><p>"Why? In case you're kissinnnnng?" she retorted in a singsong voice, kissy fingers in Eric's face.</p><p>He swatted them away. "No, just basic human decency." He was hoping for sassy, but feared he'd only achieved petulant. He sighed. Fighting with an eight year old probably wasn't his best look, anyway. "What do you want?"</p><p>"I want Adam to read me How the Grinch Stole Christmas."</p><p>Eric rolled his eyes and turned back to the mirror. </p><p>"You know Christmas is like, eight months away," he said to his reflection, closing one eye to examine the shadow on its lid.</p><p>"Never mind him, Mary Mary Quite Contrary. Jump up here next to me and we'll have a read."</p><p>Eric rolled his eyes again as Mary clambered up next to Adam. He was head over heels for his littlest sister and obviously it was the cutest fucking thing ever.</p><p>"What does 'contrary' mean?" Mary asked as she settled in next to him.</p><p>"Well," he paused, and shrugged. "I dunno. It's just a word, innit?"</p><p>Eric bit back a smile as he smudged the subtle shading under his brow, and Adam began reading. </p><p>"Every Who down in Whoville..."</p><p>Eric quickly lost interest in his makeup as he listened to Adam. He wasn't the most fluent reader, occasionally tripping over words or losing the rhythm of the story, but he was engaged and enthusiastic, even attempting some voices here and there. </p><p>Not for the first time, Eric ached for Adam, that someone so inherently tender and gentle and shy had been turned cruel by fear and lack of love. He knew, thanks to Otis and his insatiable therapizing, that it wasn't his job to fix Adam, but the desire to protect and nurture him was strong. </p><p>He gave up the pretence of doing his makeup to watch them in the mirror and swivelled his chair around to give them his full attention. Adam glanced up and faltered for a moment before carrying on, and Eric could tell he wasn't as confident as before. </p><p>Sweet, shy boy, Eric thought as he watched them, Mary's arm draped over his knee, her little body leaning into his.  </p><p>As Eric watched them, he began to feel a tightening in the back of his throat, an almost unbearable happiness that was so close to sadness it was difficult to tell the difference. Like the touch of ice on skin, so cold it burns. Or the slice of a kitchen knife through butter-soft flesh, not felt for many moments after the cut. Not exactly like that, but in the same.... family of feelings. Like feeling such an fierce and frightening affection for someone was almost unnatural. An affection so intense it was almost... savage.</p><p>Eric turned back to the mirror, overwhelmed. He halfheartedly applied some highlighter to his cheekbones, remembering the time he'd explained to Adam what it was for. He'd seemed aghast. "You don't... need to draw any more attention to your cheekbones." Eric had looked at him in confusion. "They're, they're beautiful," he'd said finally, face pink with embarrassment and eyes downcast in shyness. Eric had laughed delightedly. It was the first time he'd used the word 'beautiful' about him. It certainly wasn't the last, in fact, it had seemingly opened the floodgates, and Eric now had no doubt in his mind that Adam thought he was beautiful. But he'd laughed and pointed out that Adam had cheekbones you could cut a steak on, and then he'd laughed again and said that arguing over who had the nicest cheekbones was literally the gayest thing ever, and Adam had wrestled him onto the bed and it was the first time they'd ever been naked together and it was so fucking wonderful. </p><p>Something brought him back to himself and he caught his reflection in the mirror - chin in hand, eyes glazed over, dreamy smile on his lips. He looked like a teenage girl in a romcom.</p><p>Straightening up, he turned to face Adam and Mary, and realized that the end of the story was what must have shaken him out of his reverie. </p><p>"Thanks, Adam! I'm going to go get Mum to do my hair like a Who!"</p><p>"Any time. We'll read Frosty the Snowman next time."</p><p>She turned and gave him a withering glare. "Adam, it's like, eight months till Christmas."</p><p>She flounced out, Adam staring after her. </p><p>"Kids are so fucking weird," he mused,seemingly to no-one in particular. </p><p>"Yep," Eric agreed with a laugh. Adam glanced up quickly, like he'd forgotten Eric was there. </p><p>He looked embarrassed suddenly. "I always hated reading out loud," he murmured, scrubbing his hand nervously across the back of his neck.</p><p>Eric pushed down the ache that always rose when Adam expressed his insecurities. </p><p>"Well, it was very good of you to read to my annoying little sister, then." He flashed him a grin. "You know, you're completely adorable with her."</p><p>Adam flushed instantly, and Eric preened. He loved having that effect on him.</p><p>"She's very cute," he said to the duvet cover, picking at a thread with his long fingers. Eric recognized the fidgeting as a sign that he was building up to say something, so he simply hummed in agreement and waited.</p><p>He continued picking for a moment or two longer, then glanced up quickly. </p><p>"I, uh, kind of know what that guy means." He scratched his hair, eyes darting about skittishly. He looked like a frightened puppy. </p><p>Eric furrowed his brow. "What guy, Dr Seuss?"</p><p>Adam frowned in return. "Who?" he said, and Eric puzzled a moment over whether he was making a Whoville joke.</p><p>"No, that Grinch guy," Adam said before Eric could ponder too long. This was just as perplexing, though.</p><p>"You... don't like Christmas?" he asked carefully. He knew Adam lost confidence quickly when he didn't articulate or express himself clearly the first time.</p><p>"No! I mean, I like Christmas fine, I guess. That wasn't what I meant." Eric would definitely need a new duvet cover by the time this conversation was over, but he forced himself to wait.</p><p>"I meant," he paused, then waved his hand around his chest a few times. "I meant the heart thing."</p><p>He seemed to deflate a little after saying it, giving up.</p><p>Eric pursed his lips and squinted one eye, considering. A very exaggerated thinking face. Did he mean-?</p><p>"Do you mean the part about his heart growing three sizes?" he asked quietly.</p><p>Adam nodded, almost angrily. </p><p>Eric puffed out one cheek, then the other. He squinted both eyes.</p><p>"Are you... are you trying to tell me that I... did that?" He was almost whispering now, but the truth of it was as clear and as loud as a bell. He didn't need Adam's almost imperceptible nod to understand it.</p><p>They both sat silently for a moment before Eric suddenly launched himself onto Adam with a speed and agility he didn't know he had.</p><p>"Hmmmph!" he huffed as Eric landed on top of him, forcing the air out of his lungs. </p><p>Eric pressed him back into the bed, straddling his hips, and buried his face in his neck.</p><p>"My soft, soft boy," he murmured into the warm, pliant skin of his neck.</p><p>Adam huffed a laugh and squirmed a little, uncomfortable with the endearment, but Eric only pressed tighter.</p><p>"Lovely, lovely boy," he said, a little fiercely this time. Wanting desperately for him to know. The need for him to know became a fire in his chest and he pressed harder still, hands reaching up to tangle and pull in his hair, longer now since being home from military school. 'Home' he thought, deliriously, as he gripped him tightly with his thighs. Closer. He wanted to be closer. He wanted to open up his chest and nestle up inside there.</p><p>"Adam," he groaned, lost. "I love you."</p><p>He froze, immediately back to himself. He pushed up onto his hands and stared at Adam, wide eyed. </p><p>"Oh," he said. "I didn't know I was going to say that."</p><p>Adam stared back at him, intense brown eyes locked with Eric's. His face wore the pinched, closed expression that Eric had quickly learned meant hurt, unsure or embarrassed. </p><p>"Did you mean it?" he asked woodenly, like he was barely interested. </p><p>Eric hesitated for only a moment before nodding. "Yes," he whispered.</p><p>Adam closed his eyes, and his whole body seemed to relax. Eric tentatively stroked a hand over his forehead and into his hair, and he watched, mesmerized, as peace washed over his face. His eyes fluttered open and his hand crept up under Eric's shirt to stroke the sensitive skin of his back. He shuddered a little. </p><p>"I never knew it could be like this," Adam said softly, and tilted his head up to meet Eric's lips. They kissed. Adam pulled back a little, but not completely, like he couldn't bear to lose the contact.</p><p>He whispered against Eric's lips, and although he didn't quite catch it the first time, the second time was unmistakable. </p><p>"I love you."</p>
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